Kelly Rutherford: “I’m Being Punished For Being A Good Mother”

During a recent appearance on NBC’s Dateline, the Gossip Girl actress, 44, openly sobbed and shared her story. She said that because Giersch’s visa has been revoked, an L.A. judge ruled that Hermés, 5, and Helena, 3, must live in France with their father for the foreseeable future.

“Why would you take the kids away from their mother, out of their school, away from their friends and everything they’ve known, and plant them somewhere else?” asked Rutherford, who lives in New York City. “It’s hard to even believe it’s real.”

The judge ruled that Giersch must provide Rutherford with plane tickets, a car and accommodations in France.

“I was on a plane three weekends a month,” she said. “I’m being punished for being a good mother and taking care of my children, and he’s being rewarded for having his visa revoked. Our kids are U.S. citizens and they have a right to be raised in the U.S.”

The actress openly sobbed during the interview.

“It’s crazy,” she said. “It’s like, what matters other than your babies? Nothing. What matters is that your babies are okay.”

The pair split in 2009 while Rutherford was pregnant with Helena. The German entrepreneur claimed that he only learned of his daughter’s birth from the tabloids.

“The truth is he knew that I was in labor and I was at the hospital. I just didn’t want him right there because it was very painful,” shared Rutherford, who added that she did not put his name on Helena’s birth certificate. “I was very, very hurt.”

Giersch also said that Rutherford tried to alienate their children from him. “It’s like someone declared war,” Rutherford stated.

While Giersch’s attorney did not comment on the status of his visa, he expressed concern over Rutherford’s “aggressive public relations approach” and added that the children “are happy and thriving.”

And now it’s a waiting game. The U.S. State Department does not release information regarding revoked visas, and Rutherford must simply wait for Giersch to get it restored.

“How do you take two young citizens, little kids, out of the country, away from their mother because the father’s visa was revoked?” she pleaded. “I would think that their rights were being violated.”

Lady, you need to learn from your mistakes here. It seems like YOU declared war, not him. You know he’s your daughter’s father, and you didn’t put his name on the Birth Certificate? How could you do that?

You were perfectly fine with having these children separated from their father, doesn’t feel so good when it’s in the reverse, does it?

Ladies! Learn a lesson here! Don’t procreate with citizens of other countries!

clair

Whilst I agree with half of your message, you lost me at the last bit… ‘ don’t procreate with citizens of other countries.’ What a strange thing to say.

Gena

Seriously – a bizarre thing to say! My husband is English (I’m American) and I currently live in the UK. My son has dual US/UK citizenship and passports. That last statement is just silly.

Jennie

Yeah, no kidding lol My husband is British, I’m American and I highly doubt that anything even remotely like this would ever happen if we divorced.

I think this situation is the exception not the norm, as I think I read somewhere that the judge ruled in the father’s favor since the mother had the money to be able to fly back and forth. Clearly that is not the case with most people.

Anon

No one EVER thinks it will happen to them. That’s the point, I think. If you have babies with a German citizen, they have the right (and sometimes the court’s approval) to take them to THAT country.

Stop thinking that just because your kid was born here that that solves the whole problem. It most certainly does not.

JJ

I’d feel sympathy for her if she wasn’t the one who had a huge hand in getting her ex-husband’s visa revoked and has done all she can to keep her kids away from him.

I’m not for a second saying he is innocent in any of this but she has done nothing to help her own case.

anonymous27

Having the visa of the father of her children revoked really backfired on her.
I guess…you learn from your mistakes….and you also get to pay for it.

Kasey1

Her little pity parties are getting old. If she had listened to the judge and stopped trying to be so spiteful, she wouldn’t be in this situation. She made her bed, she needs to lie in it. I understand she wants her kids back but you think instead of blabbering all over the media, she’d actually try to work with her ex to get her kids back or to have some sort of “better” custody arrangement…Just my two cents that no one asked for.

Annonmom

Three sides to every story. Something doesn’t add up with hers. Like the previous posters wrote- her plan backfired to alienate her kids from their father. You made your bed, lady. Too bad she’s making it so public and not putting her kids first by trying to make the best of it. Or work with her ex to make the situation a bit more manageable. I feel no empathy for her….

good grief

No sweetie. You are being punished for your inability to co-parent. Do you think Daniel missed his kids when you got him deported? Sucks to be on the other side, doesn’t it? If I hear one more weepy, self serving interview out of this bitch I will scream. The judge saw all her efforts to alienate the father and she has to own her part in this.

Anonymous

That is EXACTLY the point. The judge saw clearly that she was not even attempting to co-parent and she was alienating the kids from their father. Sickening.

HDP

Does she have the ability to move to France? If so, she should really be looking into either moving there to be with them, or spending as much time as possible with them and stay out of the media.

Jam

That’s what i was thinking. I’d put work and everything else on hold and just get a small place there to be with my kids. Maybe it’s easier said than done.

Mary

she has the money why cant she buy a small house in france and live there, they do make movies there too…on the other hand they never said why his visa was revoked…hmmm.

anon.

Mary, while I agree she should be more flexible, she’s not exactly an “in demand” A-lister (think Angelina Jolie, Halle Berry, Nicole Kidman) with top producers and directors lined up at the door. She has to take what she can get and live where she is accessible to the powers that be.

Anonymous

She’d be a lot better off if she had tried to get along with the father. She obviously wanted him out of the picture entirely. However, she is still a mother who loves her children and I feel sorry for her in that regard.

Anon

Agree 100%.

amy

i would just like to point out that because the father is a citizen of another country, the children most likely have dual-citizenship. so claiming only their american citizenship, is wrong. i do not know the details of this case, i only know what’s been made public. but i will say that given that the father is not abusive in any way or in some other way incapable of being a good father, the children have a right to have TWO good parents.

also – if i was the judge in this case, i would put a gag order on this lady. she’s talking to the press every other day it seems like, and she wants the judge to believe she’s the best option for the children? she clearly does NOT respect her children’s privacy OR the court’s decision. in my opinion, bad mouthing the other parent AND the courts ruling is only going to make her look even worse.

the only people i feel bad for in this situation is those two babies. they’re so innocent and they’re being used as pawns in their parents sick little game, it’s not okay.

laura

Honestly I don’t wanna pretend I know all the details of the matter, but- as she says- it sounds so weird to me that the children are taken away from everything they’ve always known..
I mean, a part from everything that happened between their parents, they are so young, 5 and 3, they’ve always lived in NYC with their mum, it sounds almost violent that they are being taken away and brought to a country with a different language, where there are no known things anymore, without their landmark (their mum, I don’t know if landmark is the right word because english is not my first language).

Anon

They have a landmark. Their dad.

And how violent do you think it was for them when their dad was unceremoniously removed from the country?

Language barriers may not even exist. We don’t know if he has been teaching the children his language all along.

laura

I don’t know, to me she seems to be a good mum..

Emma

I don’t really understand why this is happening do children not usually stay with their mums first and foremost? There must be some other reason they are not making public.

Anon

The reason IS public. This woman has tried from day one to alienate those children from their father. That, in and of itself, can have you declared an unfit parent.